The WSJ reports that the iPhone 5 may be coming to China sooner than later. Though the iPhone 5 first launched in September, Apple’s next-gen smartphone has been awaiting government approval before carriers such as China Telecom and China Unicom can begin selling it. And it’s just as good considering that Apple is just now catching up to surging iPhone demand given the complexity of the iPhone 5 manufacturing process.

Government officials haven’t offered guidance on when the iPhone 5 might win final approval. But China Telecom Chairman Wang Xiaochu said Friday in a brief interview on the sidelines of the Communist Party’s 18th Party Congress in Beijing that the phone should be by early December if not sooner.